The Weather and More

asheville mardi gras parade purple hair performer
Originally uploaded by mygothlaundry

On Sunday I got to take pictures of something other than snow and dogs in snow and ice and bleak picnic tables in snow. This was kind of amazing, because frankly I had sort of forgotten what a world that's not completely drawn in shades of black and white looked like, particularly after Friday's unscheduled yet extremely annoying small snowstorm. That was the storm (every Friday like clockwork! Aaaargh!) in which we only got 3.5 inches which somehow rendered all the roads unnavigable. I had to leave my car on Haywood Road and I will never tease my brother about having an SUV again - Audrey nearly had to spend the night at work and she never could make it back to West Asheville, taking shelter finally with a Subaru owning friend.

Anyway, that is normal now that we all live in a snowglobe in the Yukon! Onward to the less normal, also known as Sunday. Audrey and I ventured out of the house and checked out the Mardi Gras parade. I have never actually lived anywhere that had a a Mardi Gras parade before - note that I have lived in Asheville for a decade now - and so it was doubly awesome. It was pretty much what I thought a Mardi Gras parade would be like, only with less nudity, which is understandable given that it was a balmy 27 degrees or so and I could hardly look at the dancers in their skimpy outfits, poor things. It was a short parade with the aforementioned dancers, who were great, and drummers and people in wild, colorful costumes that I have no idea what they represent if they do in fact represent anything other than "Hey! Costumes!" I even got some beads. Then we went and drank some beer at the LAB and I talked to a couple of people I haven't seen in some time, so, all good.

Then it snowed again, or, to be precise, it's sort of still snowing a little bit. I know, this is not the kind of snow they have had in Baltimore, which frankly I am a little - not much, but a little - jealous of because it is Real Snow like we had in December. I remember Baltimore in the great snows of 96 and 93 -my house was on TV because I used young Miles' playpen to hold my parking space! That same young Miles stepped off the stoop in his yellow Winnie the Pooh snowsuit and promptly disappeared in a drift! I had to reach over and pick him up by the peak of his yellow Winnie the Pooh head, thwoop! - and it was kind of exciting, as opposed to this endless snow that never amounts to enough to be exciting but is more than anyone can really cope with. It's always cold and the streets are always just icy enough where you don't really feel that going anywhere is justifiable. Ick, in other words, and I am going stir crazy, in other other words and god almighty, I have never before been so ready for some decent weather.